


What Does It Mean To Be A Hero?

by DragonAngelFunandFire



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Daredevil (TV), Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (TV), Sherlock - Fandom, Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Based On a YouTube Vid, Concept Exploration, Gen, Heroes, POV Second Person, villians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 17:39:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11491344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonAngelFunandFire/pseuds/DragonAngelFunandFire
Summary: An exploration into the concept of heroism and what it truly means to be a hero. No real plot, just an idea.





	What Does It Mean To Be A Hero?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Multifandom| Is This What I Am?](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/306810) by Desperadoes. 



> Based on this YouTube video and my own fandoms:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anaq5uRL87U

What does it mean to be hero?

It means giving up any chance of a normal life. It means your family and friends worrying over you or you lying to them to protect them. It means frequent injuries, and being able to tell the difference between a broken bone and a bruised one by the amount of pain you feel. It means knowing that you can do something, and you choosing to help, no matter the cost to yourself.

It means always toeing the line between life and death, dancing on Death's door, and being intimately acquainted with the cold feeling of approaching death. It means hating yourself for the people you cannot save, but barely congratulating yourself for those you do save. It means you have to keep going, no matter the cost to yourself, because you took on the responsibility to help others, and you feel as though you must fulfill that responsibility, no matter that yo took it upon yourself to do it.

It means questioning your own morality, constantly asking yourself if what you are doing is right, and if you are on the right side of this fight. It means the lines between right and wrong, good and evil, often get blurred, and it is hard to tell if you chose correctly. Sure, you started out by wanting to help people, but now, you realize that you got yourself into something far, far bigger. It may mean turning on your own family, maybe lying to them to keep them from worrying.

"You're one bad day away from being me," said Frank Castle to the Daredevil. He was right. Being a hero means having bad days and good days, and, on those bad days, where everything you do seems to have barely made a dent in the evil surrounding you, and you weren't fast enough, strong enough,  _good enough_ , to save someone; on those days, those hopeless days, you feel the need to kill, and may use the rationale of killing a bad person, but it doesn't matter. One bad, hopeless day, and you begin to kill those criminals you had previously imprisoned. Before you know it, you become a killer. Was that who you wanted to be?

It means giving up your family and friends. "The more connections you have, the easier it is to break you." Having friends and family who cannot defend themselves, or maybe can but not well enough, means that someone can easily get to you. It may mean connecting with other heroes in order to do your job. 

It means hating yourself every time you fail. Every time you fail to save a person, every time you weren't fast enough to save a teammate, every time you let a building or a car fall, you find another reason to hate yourself, to push yourself harder and harder and  _harder_ , until you collapse of exhaustion or get killed in battle.

Being a hero isn't as easy or glamorous as they make it out to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Tell me what you think in the comments, please. I might do more of these concept explorations if ya'll like it.


End file.
